Payback

Inspired by Margaret Atwood's 2008 nonfiction book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, Jennifer Baichwal's intriguing documentary looks at indebtedness in various forms, as exemplified by five case studies. Two involve incarceration—wealthy Canadian Conrad Black, who served over three years for fraud, criticizes the justice system, while Paul Mohammed expresses regret for his repeated burglaries but can't shake the drug addiction that drives him to theft. A third focuses on British Petroleum's responsibility for dealing with the ecological damage—and human cost—of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. The fourth concerns a drive for higher wages and improved working conditions mounted by Florida migrant workers against their agribusiness employer. And the fifth (and oddest) presents an Albanian family who—according to an ancient code of revenge—are literally imprisoned in their house because the father can be killed by his neighbor (whom he injured over a property dispute) if he emerges. Comments from scholars, activists, and legal observers are interspersed throughout, while fleeting references to a shuttered Pennsylvania penitentiary add a historical dimension to the central theme of how society should deal with wrongdoers. In addition, Atwood is periodically shown at her computer and heard in excerpts from public lectures. Beautifully photographed, Payback ultimately suggests that rational evenhandedness and a sense of forgiveness must replace hidebound conceptions of repayment that are often driven by passion and resentment. DVD extras include a Q&A with Atwood and Baichwal, and additional scenes. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)